Park City Song Summit Enlists Bob Weir, Joy Oladokun, Chuck D and Others for Combination of Shows and Seminars

The stars of Joy Ride brought their movie to San Francisco!

Ariana Madix will sit down in the clubhouse hot seat when she joins Andy Cohen next week for her first interview after her name blew up in headlines in March as news broke of Tom Sandoval’s cheating scandal.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Margo Price and Charley Crockett emerged as leading nominees when the contenders for the 2023 Americana Honors & Awards were announced Tuesday in Nashville, with three nominations each. Allison Russell was close behind with two nods from the Americana Music Association voters. Picking up a single nomination each — tough enough, when there are only a scant six categories— were such highly regarded names of the genre as Billy Strings, Zach Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Tyler Childers, Angel Olsen, Sierra Ferrell, Nickel Creek, the War and Treaty, and Bonnie Raitt. Some of the more prominent names in Americana who have dominated the nominations in years past, like Jason Isbell, were between projects during the voting period. But the association is also known for wanting to promote fresh blood, which has resulted in artists who don’t necessarily have high mainstream media profiles, like Hermanos Gutiérrez, 49 Winchester, Caamp and Plains, landing slots in competitive categories.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Rhiannon Giddens has recorded her first solo album in six years, and her first album of all-original material ever, “You’re the One,” the singer announced Tuesday. The album will arrive August 17 on Nonesuch. The album announcement comes a day after Giddens was announced as being a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for music, for her opera, “Omar,” an honor she shares with co-composer Michael Abels. A tour is being simultaneously announced, as well, with most of the dates taking place this fall, including a September headlining stop at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Some of the highest-profile dates stretch into 2024, including shows next March and April at the Beacon in New York and the Theatre at Ace Hotel in L.A. (See the full itinerary below.)

Jeff Bezos and his boo Lauren Sanchez were spotted arriving at F1 Carbone on the Beach Party in Miami.The Carbone Beach event is popular for celebrity sightings amid F1. The couple was all smiles arriving at the event wearing colorful looks. The former Amazon CEO wore a red pop shirt, black pants, and black sneakers, while Sanchez rocked a forest-inspired dress and heels.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s recent song “Midnight Rain” lived up to its name when it was performed Sunday night at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, except that it was actually after 1 a.m. local time when it finally came up in the set list. The finale of her hometown three-night stand was pushed back hours from its scheduled start time due to lightning strikes near the downtown area; once it did finally get underway after 10 p.m., the second half of the three-and-a-half-hour set was marked by a steady downpour, hitting Swift as hard as it did the audience in the roofless venue, before the show finally wrapped up just after 1:35 a.m. The general crowd mood, at that drenched wee hour: delirious. (Except for the small minority of fans who gave up and went home before the show got started.)

Birthday bling! Raquel Leviss splurged on a lightning bolt necklace — like the one Tom Sandoval wears — on Vanderpump Rules before news broke in March that she and the TomTom cofounder were hooking up.

Stormzy has shared a new video for his track ‘Need You’, featuring Ayra Starr and Tendai – check it out below.The track is lifted from the rapper’s 2022 album ‘This Is What I Mean’, with the new video directed by Meji Alabi.It sees the trio hanging out in a lavish hotel, and follows previous visuals for the singles ‘Hide & Seek’ and ‘Firebabe’.Check out the ‘Need You’ video below.The first wave of acts for Stormzy‘s ‘This Is What We Mean Day’ at All Points East 2023 were recently announced.Last November, it was confirmed that the Croydon MC would be taking over Victoria Park in London on August 18 as part of this summer’s APE gig series. He’s curated the full bill for the day, and is set to deliver a headline show that evening.Organisers then revealed that Stormzy will be joined at the event by Kehlani, Sampha, Knucks, Lucky Daye, WSTRN, Ms Banks and The No Signal Stage.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift let fans in her hometown of Nashville to be the first to get the official news: “Speak Now” will be the next album in her “Taylor’s Version” series of re-recorded albums. Swift is giving fans plenty of time to pre-order the album: She revealed that it’s coming out July 9. “I think rather than me speaking about it,” she said, to screams, as fans realized from the language that the long-awaited announcement was at hand, “I thought I would show you, so if you would direct your attention” to the big screens…” There, the album cover and release date were shown on the big screen. Upon the announcement at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, the city turned on purple lights on the nearby bridge over the Cumberland River.

She’s back.  Kristen Doute  slammed Tom Sandoval for cheating on Ariana Madix with Raquel Leviss — and took a shot at former boss Lisa Vanderpump.  

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Jonas Brothers have announced a 35-date tour of North America for this summer and fall, taking place mostly in arenas but also touching down in a few key stadiums, including Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Wrigley Field in Chicago and (as previously announced) Yankee Stadium in New York. The gambit for the tour is that the sibling trio will play five of their albums each night. Obviously, their releases have not all been hour-plus excursions, but it should still make for a lengthy set. This format plays off of and expands the conceit of the group’s recent run in a Broadway theater, in which each night focused on a different one of those five albums (albeit with copious amounts of extra material filling out those single-album shows as well).

Two self-styled ‘Tearoom Explorers’ have been searching for the best scones served in Perthshire.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America West will begin picketing Tuesday afternoon outside of Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros., and the other major studios in Los Angeles, after a strike was called on Monday night. The Writers Guild of America East, based in New York, put out a schedule for the “first two weeks of picketing,” which will begin on Tuesday at the Peacock NewFront on 5th Avenue. The WGAE also plans to picket outside Netflix headquarters in New York on Wednesday. The WGA called a strike Monday night, after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced that negotiations had concluded for the day without a deal. The current three-year contract expires at midnight on Monday.

Texas troubadour Willie Nelson had a birthday party that will be remembered. "Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90" kicked off on Saturday night, which was Nelson's birthday.The two-night event at the Hollywood Bowl host performances from all music genres, including Snoop Dogg and Chris Stapleton.

James Kennedy is livin’ for the drama!

Around 40,000 people are taking part in the London Marathon 2023 today. From elite athletes to first-time runners, the annual event in the capital city draws huge crowds from around the globe.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Drummer Bill Kreutzmann, one of the founders of the Grateful Dead and a member of spinoff group Dead and Company, will not be a part of the latter group’s farewell tour this summer, the band announced in a social media post Saturday. Although fans might assume his exit could be health-related, since he has had to sit out some Dead and Company shows in recent years, the group declared that was not the case in its post, and added that he is not retiring from music. Rather, the statement said, Kreutzmann’s departure was due to a “shift in creative direction.” No further explanation of what that might mean was forthcoming in the statement.

Lara Eyre has addressed the feud between the castmates for the most recent series of Married At First Sight UK, as she hit out at many of them for “cancelling” Thomas Hartley. Thomas ruffled many people's feathers in the series, but Lara insisted she’d never “cancel” someone over their mistakes. Adding fuel to the fire, the Liverpudlian went on to make some explosive remarks about his MAFS co-stars on a podcast late last year.

Scandoval is slowly starting to come to light on Vanderpump Rules.

Ariana Grande was seen for the first time since she took to social media to hit out at body-shamers while encouraging people to be "be gentle" to one another.The 29 year old Thank U, Next singer looked happy and relaxed as she went shopping in London's famous Bond Street while donning a pair of straight-leg blue jeans and an oversized black jacket from The North Face. Ariana wore a yellow baseball hat atop her blonde tresses and kept things cool with a pair of quirky white shades.Toting her essentials in a cross-body bag, Ariana opted for maximum comfort as she strolled along in a pair of comfortable white platform shoes.